The Pentagon has drawn up "detailed plans" developed to carry out military action against the Syrian regime, if ordered by President Obama, according to a senior U.S. official. The crucial progress in military planning comes after several weeks of initial analysis by the Pentagon of what the official says are a "full range of options."

The detailed plans for each option include more precise concepts of how a variety of operations could be carried out, as well as estimates of the numbers of personnel, types of units and military equipment and weapons that could potentially be needed.

The planning behind the scenes comes as the United States continues to pursue diplomatic and political solutions, including trying to pressure Syria's President Basher al-Assad to step aside.Pentagon officials across the board say the use of U.S. troops remains highly problematic in any scenario as long as the violence continues unchecked. But the phrase 'full range of options' means just that, all scenarios are being thought through.

"There are lots of ideas floating around," the official said. "But all of them require heavy lifting," he said, noting that any use of U.S. troops would be politically and militarily difficult in such a sensitive part of the world. Nonetheless, he said, administration officials and military commanders are still actively considering what to do.

"People are teeing up options," he said. "We want to understand what is the art of the possible." None of the officials would agree to be identified because of the sensitive nature of the discussions under way inside the administration.

If Obama were to order any type of action, then additional planning and deployment orders would be some of the next steps.

The Obama administration is considering whether there is anything the military can or should do to facilitate humanitarian assistance, for example, several officials told CNN.

As CNN has previously reported, the Pentagon also has looked intensively at what it would have to do to protect Syrian chemical weapons sites if they were left unguarded. One scenario calls for tens of thousands of troops to potentially be used for guarding the installations.

One of the major concerns is what would happen if Assad somehow was no longer in office, U.S. officials said. They believe other leaders close to him in Syrian military and intelligence agencies would remain in place for some time. But if the entire regime were to collapse, it could force the hand of the United States along with the international community to act to maintain security and protect civilians.

But unless and until a decision is made by Obama to undertake a military option, action at the moment remains limited mostly to using American satellites overhead to gather intelligence about what is happening on the ground, including the movements of Syrian forces.

Intelligence gathering also provides indications of which specific Syrian units on the ground are attacking civilians. That information could be potential evidence for future prosecution of war crimes. The United Nations already says it believes crimes against humanity have been committed. On Tuesday, Secretary of State Hillary Clinton said Assad could "fit into that category" of war criminal but cautioned against the United States pursuing that.

"I think people have been putting forth the argument, but I also think from long experience that could complicate a resolution of a difficult complex situation because it limits options to persuade leaders to step down from power," Clinton told a Senate committee on Tuesday.

This element is also part of the U.S. strategy to try to shake the loyalty of Syrian troops and commanders to the regime. But by all accounts there have been few defections so far.

Several officials confirm to CNN that for now, any use of U.S. intelligence gathering drones over Syria has been ruled out because of the threat of Syrian surface to air missiles and the concern over inserting U.S. assets into the war there.

The United States is also intercepting the communications of operatives of al Qaeda in Iraq operatives now in Syria and believed to be part of a network of operatives responsible for recent attacks. A small group of al Qaeda in Iraq operatives have been "pushed into Syria" to carry out intelligence and reconnaissance against Syrian targets and subsequent bombing attacks.

The first indication of the intelligence campaign came with the release of low resolution imagery showing Syrian forces in and around cities where civilians had been attacked. Officials acknowledge there is more high resolution classified imagery showing the situation in great detail. This capability is allowing the United States to monitor the movement of Syrian forces, assess their command and control units, air defenses, security of their chemical and biological facilities and ability to resupply their troops.

"We can see a crack on your sidewalk," said yet another official of the imagery capabilities.

listen Barbra,
we don't care about all of these & what you are trying to convince us about! & what your management trying to convince us about
we are dying and you & the American people keep writing these unwanted articles just to spread some bubbles here & there!
please either do it or shut up.

Listen my Syrian sister or brother. Talk nicely to the Americans. They are our only hope. The Arab and Muslim world have abandoned us. Personally, as a Syrian, if America intervenes, I will walk around with an American flag stapled to my forehead and slap down any Arab or Muslim that speaks badly about the US. Even secretary Hillary Clinton admitted that atrocities and war crimes are taking place every day in Syria. One of two things will happen in net couple of days: (1) The Syrian people of Homs will face annihilation and possibly upwards of 100,000 people will be murdered by the cowardly Syrian dictator Bashar al-Assads thug military force; or (2) The Lord and Creator of the Universe and humanity will intervene and the good folks of the US military and her military allies, will intervene and send a knife right through the plans of Mr al-Assad, whereby 75% of the Syrian military will defect and switch sides.

I trust that President Obama will be as successful as he has been so far when it comes to dealing with Middle Eastern Affairs and the Spring revolutions. We should indeed be prepared to back up our European allies and the Arab World in their actions against Syria, not as a spearhead force but as a supporting force.

This is what happens when a country like US spend too much on the military. They are just itching to get involved military in another country's civil war. I hope the Russian intervenes and supplies more arms to the Syrian army if that happens.

from australia it is so fantastic to read these blogs and finally here from american people that enough war is enough what does a household do when a few things need fixing they start saveing forget the bloody middle east for gods sake fix the roads schools hospitals before the war mongers drain your country. from your closest ally

from australia it is so fantastic to read these blogs and finally here from american people that enough war is enough what does a household do when a few things need fixing they start saveing forget the bloody middle east for gods sake fix the roads schools hospitals before the war mongers drain your country from your closest ally

STOP THIS MADNESS – America should take care of America. Let israel fend for itself. The dirty evil zionists are causing all this trouble. Take out Syria and just like that another country that is a threat to israel is nixed. Let them do it on their own dime. Let's see the idf fight on its own. But they won't and why should they? They have us dumb Americans who are controlled by traitors in our government who are zionists that pull our strings. They have Obama in their pocket and they have an active spy ring . . . AIPAC doing all the bribing in Congress.

Now they want us to attack Syria and then Iran . . . I say let's bomb israel and force them to quit threatening the middle east with their nukes they stole from out nuclear arsenal.

Sorry George Washington, but we have been taken over by the dirty evil zionists.

Boo-fucking-hoo. Nobody appreciates us for meddling in their affairs by propping up despots and dictators or by telling everyone what to do and how to do it. Boooo-hooo-hoooo...*honk*

February 28, 2012 at 9:24 pm |

mick

let the middle east burn.these people dont really want to be part of a free and happy world.they want to impose a sick religion on us with threats and violance.let them all burn in their rotten part of the world.

the US should just tell the world to get stuffed.lets see how it unfolds when they dont have the US there saving there arses from their pathetic religion,same with the western countries.the US should tell the world to take care of its own crap and see how they go.theyll be begging for help.

You're beyond stupid. I hope you tear your dick off while beating off to 'Red Dawn'.

February 28, 2012 at 9:21 pm |

nimrod

I shall abstain from getting involved in syria. i say we have enough doodoo to deal with in USA. Let us deal with chinsese and other countries eating our lunches and then some. USA 's enemies are China and second Russia. Today I learned that god dam IBM laid off one of my lunch buddies so that a #$#$# chinese can take his job. Wake up Americans and try to understand the truth and no what media tells you.

The U.S military should stay away from this Muslim cesspool . Arabs are very well known to be fickle and will turn against and bite the hand that helps them. Enough sacrificing of U.S men and women in uniform !

This is strictly routine nothing more.I just watched the NATO supreme leader in Europe give a news interview and state that NATO will not be involved in Syria period! They are simply keeping an eye on the situation because Turkey (a NATO MEMBER) is a bordering state.

Why are options even on the table, I mean Syria was chanting "Death to America, the Great Satan" not how long before Assad started massacring his ppl? Will helping these people dethrone Assad really cast America in a good light to these people? I highly doubt it. Let them fight their own war, and the Great American Satan can watch on the sidelines.

I think you misunderstand, ladies and gentlemen. In a real war situation, these "detailed plans" would never be announced in public, even by this leak-ridden administration. This is an official leak, in other words, cleared by the president for political reasons. This means nothing more than that we might, at some indeterminate time in the future, provide technical support, should such support be requested by someone else. Quite simply put, this is to try to convince a portion of the population that we are doing something, while in reality, we really aren't doing much of anything. The detailed plans could be nothing more than a napkin sketch for getting a peanut butter sandwich through Syrian defenses. In an election year, Obama isn't stupid enough to hand the Republican party the reins by getting into yet another unpopular war. Stop panicking.

This is about the only sensible comment I have seen so far here. Obama will never invade another Middle East country: there will be no regime changes or pre-emptive strikes while he is in office and most of America agrees with him. So everybody breathe easy.

Does anyone really believe that Obama – or any other President, for that matter – would give the green light for the military option in Syria with an election just eight months away? Maybe we will begin "humanitarian" airstrikes in December!

The same criminals who got the US to invade Iraq are behind the scenes in Washington to get our young people involved in Syria and Iran.
Are we that stupid to follow this establishment?
Any one interested to fight in the Middle East should be given a gun as much amo as they can carry and dropped in the country of the choice with McCain in charge and let them show their valor.

Who are you Jesus ? You frigging fruitcake. Go crawl back under your rock.

February 28, 2012 at 11:54 pm |

Poor midleeasterner

The US and France seem to be dividing the middle east and sharing the rewards in the form of post war contracts.France is already reaping the benefits of bombing Libya. They have signed all kinds of infrastructure contracts already.The US has had its share in Iraq and Afghanistan. Syria will be for the US and maybe Iran for France?.

YEAH right let’s stay out of this until the Syrian and Iranian regimes carry a huge attack against us with their mass destruction weapons that we are allowing them to have right now. After all the US is the coward that ran away from criminals like assad and ahmedinagad, leave them alone.

The United States alone cannot solve the problems of Syria through military involvement. Haven't we learned anything
from ten years of military involvement in Afghanistan and Iraq. Syria would be just another quagmire draining us of
our brave service people. Additionally, we cannot afford another military incursion. The problems of the Middle East
can only be solved by the people of the Middle East. So far, they have only demonstrated intransigence. There is
no compromise by any of the warring parties. Everyone wants it their own way and blames the United States when they don't get their own way. For the United States it has been a no win situation. Enough is enough. Until we start
seeing some real support from the Afghanistani, Iraqi, and Pakastani people, they should be left alone to fight for their
own freedoms.

Do your research on Syria and you'll see they are no different than the majority of middle eastern countries: Thirsty for blood, oil and power. This includes Israel whom the United supports blindly just because of a misunderstood Old Testament quote! Israel is also an enemy of God since they killed their Messiah! Muslims, Jews and Atheists in the United States (and any other country in the world) are cut from the same mold and one day will be together in the same place! Peace.

February 28, 2012 at 6:56 pm |

M. Edward

First, it is a well established fact that the Pentagon has for decades as one of it's functions, "War Planed" every conceivable scenario from a weaponized fruit fly invasion to a full blown WWIII. So to say that the Pentagon has drawn up "detailed plans" on Syria, is nothing more than and exercise in the obvious. Secondly, the last thing the US needs now is to get involved in another armed conflict in the Middle East. Save for the support of our only real Allie in the region, Israel, we need to stick to diplomacy and get out of Afghanistan.

Yes we do.
We have allies all over the world.
You just dont understand world diplomacy.

February 28, 2012 at 8:00 pm |

xtype

While I understand everyone's view on not wanting another war.... If you were a Syrian, a typical John/Jane Doe living about your lives.. and your Gov't took it upon itself to start flattening your city, and shooting anyone who is visible in the streets... As a helpless citizen that likely doesn't have any decent defense against the regime should they come knocking.. You watch your family members dieing pointlessly in the streets due to snipers... for NO REASON.... wouldn't you WANT help?

I'm sorry but the doomsday prophecy seems more and more likely each day! Plenty of time to ramp up before December 21st. Wow this world is insane and the US seems to be right there with them! Can we not stay out of other countries business? China sits back and does nothing are they blaphemized for it hell no. You can't save every poor soul in the world!! Damn man just want to puke over all this bullshit political religous crap! I'm not worried for myself but I have kids and everytime we get in peoples business they are in danger more!! Fix your own country before you go try and fix someone elses!!! AHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!!!!

So you would send American sons and daughters over there to die and spend our tax money for people who hate Americans? Yet ignore the atrociities occuring all over the world and in Africa too? What about Iraq and Afganastan where we had good intentions? Do you feel the love? Sheesh you people amaze me to want to shed someone elses bloody and money for your causes. Make a withdraw from your bank and load your sons and daughters on a plane. Dont forget to to stop at every atrocity on your way!

Where's the money coming from? It's not wise to keep this up if the economy is on the verge of collapse. Unless of course you want the economy to collapse. I sure don't, live to fight another day as they say.

Yeah and it was just like that before it plunged to the depths of hell! Idiocy reigns supreme! Here comes the destruction of the world and we have been warned do we heed it of course not that would make sense and there is no sense in this world probably never has been! FIA!!

February 28, 2012 at 5:48 pm |

KeithTexas

What does Wall Street have to do with reality?

February 28, 2012 at 5:56 pm |

JC

I'll remind you that the value of a company's stock goes up every time Americans are laid off by those companies. Capitalism and democracy are not the same thing at all, and pure capitalism is the greatest threat to every democracy everywhere. Sooner or later, as in the past, there's going to be a heavy price to be paid. Where are you going to be when the bullets hit the wall?

February 28, 2012 at 6:13 pm |

Doozer

Let it collapse.
The global economy was created by people with money, to make more money.
Human beings have been turned into cattle.
We produce for the benefit of our masters.
How do they control us ?
Religion, class, race, sex.

LETS JUST STAY OUT OF THIS ONE. Our troops and their families have been through enough. How about they fight with each other and leave us out of it.Our own country is falling apart from finances to being able to take care of our own. As it is, we have to listen to our own Govermnet fight with each other

Bring back the draft so that the entire country has to be involved in committing to war.

ENOUGH. We, the Amercian people are being sold a bill of good. This has nothing to do with "democracy." Democracy in the Middle east means Muslim governments. This has nothing to do with oil. Most of ours comes from Venezuela. This has to do with manipulating things so that certain people make a lot of money. Like the subsidized oil companies jacking up gas prices for gas already in the tanks. WAKE UP PEOPLE. This is about the 1% who despise and disrespect us.

Since Bush and company got us tied up in the Middle East we really need to control the situation in Syria and protect the people who are inhumanely suffering even if the price tag is another trillion or so.

when there are 7,500 innocent people dieing – we need to forget foreign policy and also Tell china and russia to pound salt.– protesting their money interests...at innocent people's expense ..... Get in there and take this regime out! already!

Robert, I'm a christian who was born and lived in Syria for almost 20 years. Most people there (especially in larger cities) cannot tolerate Americans mainly because of our military role in their region.

February 28, 2012 at 5:35 pm |

seriously..

If we help these people out it will only be a week or two before they start burning our flag again. If this is just sunni's and shiites killing each other again, let them do it; the world will be a much better place when there is only 1 type of muslim, becuase for some reason you all cant find a way for your own people to even get along; so why the F should we care?

Syria is a test case for Obama's Iran policy. Syria is a strong ally of Iran and they both provide support to the Shiite insurgency in Iraq and elsewhere. If we intervene in Syria, Iran would know that if they have another uprising on the streets of Tehran, we wouldn't step aside this time. Most importantly for us, the chemical weapons could end up in Iran and Iraq, and eventually places where we don't want them to be. There's much more at stake than just whether we want to help Syria or not.

Intervention in Syria would also send a strong message to Russia and China that if need be, we can break ranks and attack their spheres of influence.

Yes – we have to go there and look for those WMDs . Just like we did in Irag. Everyone knows that Syria has WMD – we just have to believe it. We found them in Irag – we just didnt advertise it. So we will find them in Syria. Eh, what the heck – lets go to Iran too. Look for those in Iran. Then Korea- they pose threat for a long time. We are peacefull nation and will bomb everyone who poses threat to the world peace. If needed – we will bomb every country to save the peace.

Syria has a huge stockpile of chemical and biological weapons. That is a known fact and nothing new. If you don't believe me then just google it and you will find information about it. We certainly cannot afford to let Iran get it's hands on them because I have no doubt that Ahmadinejad would use them against the US if given the chance. You can make all the jokes you want about WMD's that were not found in Iraq but it is a different story with Syria. They have these weapons and the whole world knows it.

Exactly that's their job. They are just being prepared to respond. Not to mention a detailed plan might include how we stablize somewhere like Syria to avoid it spilling over borders into Turkey, Israel, etc. It might also just be a plan to airlift food to starving people. Thank you for pointing out the obvious CNN.

Oh I would't go that far, we haven't solved much in Iraq. Of course most of our problems are here because we have more than 3 networks of 24 hour "news". Got to keep people watching somehow, it's like the Church's that keep you rivited to your pew with the end times are upon us.

February 28, 2012 at 4:21 pm |

KeithTexas

If we brought all our troops home we would solve most of the world's problems and at least half of ours.

February 28, 2012 at 6:03 pm |

Suad

Ok this article is bunch a BS! What US officials who's is the guy who told you this , If its sensitive why talk about it
CNN this a Big Fat Lie !!

"People are teeing up options," he said. "We want to understand what is the art of the possible." None of the officials would agree to be identified because of the sensitive nature of the discussions under way inside the administration.

Report says that Pentagon is looking into calling for tens of thousands of troops to protect Syrian chemical weapons sites. I really don't understand why. Can't we just bomb all these sites and get rid of them for good?

Because if you bomb them, and there's deadly material there, you risk releasing the material. Bomb them, and you risk spreading anthrax or mustard gas right off the bat. Bombing doesn't get rid of the sites, it could actually make them more deadly.

In response to blowing up the chemical sites in Syria, you don't want to do that. That would circulate the agents into the air and kill all people in the immediate and surrounding areas (countries) as well. Syria is perhaps one of the largest, if not the largest chemical agent producers in the world, accounting for approximately 40% of the worlds chemical agents, such as Sarin, VX and mustard gas. These agents would have to be incinerated to destroy them.

I strongly believe that any additional involvement in the Middle East on the part of the US will severely hurt its already ailing economy. Let the Arabs learn not to be dependent on us for solving their political crises.

folks obama is only concerned about re-election , putin is the voice of defiance and if assad does go syria will still stand under putin's will. assad may be removed to sugar coat it but the killing will not stop.

Even if Assad is killed, who would gain that position as of now? The new constitution will be set in place and opposition leaders, who does not represent the majority of the country would really have no true chance of coming into power, effectively (possibly) rendering the country leaderless and therefore becoming a place of chaos to recruit new extremists.

The president does not need Congressional permission to exercise his Commander-in-Chief role. The Constitution gives him that authority. What the President, any President, does need is support for any actions that take longer than a few days or weeks to complete. And that support needs to come from the nation, either from the people directly or via their elected representatives. For the American public to actually support a military action they have to feel that the nation's vital interests are at risk, or that the less-than-vital interest benefits of an action outweigh what it will cost in terms of national treasure (the lives of our sons and daughters, the monetary cost, the cost to our reputation, etc.). When the public does not see any reason for a war or other military action, or when the costs begin to seem too high for the benefit, then the public turns on the policy and the President and demands a change of course. That is what happened in Vietnam, and more recently in Iraq. In Libya, the cost in national treasure was small and the benefits outweighed the cost and the President retained support, but only for the limited role he chose. But even there, he was roundly criticized by the rabid right.

Before this or any other President decides to commit the military, he or she needs to have sufficient support. Right now, that level of support does not exist for action against Assad in Syria. Support for more rapid withdrawal is also now strengthening for Afghanistan. And there is no real stomach for a war with Iran.

Epic fail. Atacking Syria is dumb, not planning is dumb. Be prepared, I guess we should all pretend the world doesn't exist. Is that your plan? It's not the US' problem, but things can spiral, Turkey, Iran, Egypt, etc. Ignore the invasion, Chamberlin.

February 28, 2012 at 3:56 pm |

puke

You are all ignorant, planning is what we pay the pentagon to do. if they weren't planning you would saythey aren't doing their jobs. I hope no one is dumb enough to listen to you.

Yes we owe China but they actually only hold 8% of our National Debt. The American people hold the greatest majority of the National debt through money owed to the US Treasury and Social Security. When the politicians scream about social security going broke, they don't bother to tell you that one of the major reasons for it is because of all the money the government has borrowed from it.

What caught my eye in the story is that we are telling the Syrian regime that we are listening to them. Are just STUPID?? Why would we want to tell an enemy that we are getting intel from their conversations? KEEP IT TO YOURSELF, MORONS!!

We have our own problems..our schools are not save, 100s of cops killed every year...women and children cant safely walk down the street withot being abducted raoed and murdered..People losing their homes to a criminal banking system..we are a failed society...we need help

Looking at these boards, i think many americans' IQ is in the single digits

February 28, 2012 at 3:50 pm |

Lilbit

Some of the problems you listed can't be fixed by the government or money. Parents need to be REAL parents to their children instead of trying to be their friend (if they can even be bothered with that). It seems like too many parents are not teaching their children to RESPECT other people, to respect the police and other authoritarian figures and to not be bullies. If that were to happen we would have far fewer gang related crimes, school violence and children/parents killing each other. 30% of all children born in the US today, are born into single parent households and we need to lower that percentage.. We also need to get rid of the "no child left behind act" which has caused the US to lower the standards of our educational system. And last but not least we need to quit catering to all the illegal immigrants and their children which has also effected our educational system, jobs market and crime rate.

If the American government cared at all about the US and it's real problems a far better effort would be to get out of Afghanistan and use those troops for "nation building" in MEXICO. Protecting our border, ridding MEXICO of all drug cartels, make MEXICO livable for the Mexican people and still maintaining a cash flow to the military industrial complex is a more logical way to go. Let the Arab League deal with the problems of the Middle East. Stop draining America of treasure and manpower that has and will never pay off for the American people. We have oil. Develop it and develop alternate sources of energy. It is bad enough we fight the wars for Saudi Arabia and the Arab League. We also pay for all of it. The Middle East is a vicious circle of the ridiculous in which our government is stupid enough to participate.

@Those who ignore history Wow, really? Trying to justify your reasoning to go to war? You even have your history wrong!! We put economic sanctions on Japan on oil so they couldn't fuel their war machine, in which they knew things would eventually get worse by more sanctions. (they predicted) And so, they had to do something and they came up with war! We were selling billions (actually letting them borrow but whatever was used/consumed/destroyed they had to pay back at the end of the war) in supplies to the allied forces in Europe! GEEZ, why are you even posting?

Reply to Johnny: Sounds good. Why should anyone be concerned about the thousands of tons of chemical warfare agents currently stored in Syria. Maybe the stockpiles of nerve agents and blood agents will be kept safe, or they could possibly be distributed throughout the middle east to people with unknown intentions. I believe this is the big issue and why the U.S. is so concerned about Syria's most current events. If these WMD were left unprotected, some would surely be gained by terrorist organizations. A few years after we will hear about a chemical weapons attack on some middle eastern city, or worse yet our own, and the media will reference todays events and how poorly they were handled.

Hah, the only reason too go back into some sort of military conflict in the middle east would be to try to stabilize the situation. How much do you want to pay for gas? I think if you had to pay $6 or $7 for a gallon of gas you'd be singing a different tune...

Look this up on YouTube, " RT Win: Clinton asks for cash as US 'losing world info war' "
Begs to ask the question, how did "they" get all the money to post all these Libya/Syria, Whitney Houston/Charlie Shean constant media updates at the same time?

The reality is if we intervene in Syria, Russia isn't going to do squat! Furthermore, it is very hard for the US to just sit back and not intervene and try to stabilized unrest abroad for the very simple fact that the US earned that right to do so as we shed alot of blood in World War II, trying to bring about and maintain a democratic world. Let's face it, if the US hadn't intervene in the war in Europe during World War II, Nazi Germany would have conquered the world and reshape world history and many democracies and free nations today perhaps would not have been so democratic under Adolph Hitler's ten thousand year Reich. And the same is to be said of the war in the Pacific!

So at the culmination of World War II, the UN was created so that leaders of the free and democratic world could find general consensus to condemn human rights violations and intervene against aggression and atrocities when needed to keep Rouge states and dictators in check. And one can just imagine how many dictators would be seeking the reigns of power and oppressing the masses around this world if there was no UN to speak out against these crimes. In other words, there would have been unrest and violence in every region of the world on perhaps a weekly basis!

So if you want to complain about the US being the world's police, then just try to imagine a world where the US and the UN were to just sit back and do nothing when there are atrocities being committed on a high scale by dictators around the world. Just try to imagine what the world would be like today!

Well that's fine. If you believe we have the money and resources to be the world's "police' then there should be no problem funding national health care or our other programs. Then nothing needs to be cut if we can go running off on every military adventure

WWII was great for America but unfortunately since then every war that we got into was unnecessary and we hardly won any war except Granada. Vietnam, Iraq, Afghanistan – all were a total waste of men and material. Syria will be a disaster. Let the Arabs save their bretheren.

This is just another attempt my the ultra-liberal Obama Press to show his pretense as a Commander-in-Chief, when it can be presumed he will not act if HIS future presidential plans would be negatively impacted.

Exactly!
What I got from the article is that there are a bunch of folks thinking up a LOT of different things to do, I didn't see even one 'detailed plan', only a lot of 'maybe we could'..... Wtf is wrong with CNN these days, first they hire that empty headed weather-girl Erin Burnett, now this completely BS headline and BS 'maybe's' from the Pentagon.
CNN, please shut down operations, you serve no legitimate purpose.

Besides being easy on the eyes, Erin is actually a damn good news person. She's up on her topics, stays focused & doesn't get belligerent. Keep her–please !

February 28, 2012 at 3:26 pm |

GMEL

I agree, Erin is so liberally slanted. I don't care if she is liberal, but keep your opinions to yourself. Same with Piers Morgan. I refuse to watch him anymore. I like Anderson Cooper, I'm sure he's ultra liberal too, but at least he can control himself.

February 28, 2012 at 4:00 pm |

Brad

OMG!! Really?!?! Stay the hell out of it. They don't want us there. Stop policing the world with the cost being the loss of American military lives...........

The U.S. had to fight their own civil war without any outside assistance. Let the Syrian people fight their own civil war. When the Syrian people overthrow their current government, they will have instilled the necessary pride to create and support a government they control. You can't have other countries fight your own battles. There will be no "real accomplishment" felt by the Syrian people.

Dave – I believe that there was some outside interference in the US civil war. It is rare to find such a conflict without outsiders playing some role.
That said – I think that the US will be making a foolish mistake by intervening. The butcher you know if better than the fanatic in waiting. The losers from a regime change will be:
Americans
Christians
Druze
Shia
Secular politicians (Syrian)
Israel
and probably more people with Western-leaning tendencies.

Democracy only works when the population practicing it is educated and informed. Hence the reason it is collapsing here in the US.

Note – One of the rebel leaders confirmed that the relationship with Iran and Hezbollah could be continued, as they have similar goals – annihilation of Israel. Did anyone expect any different?

February 28, 2012 at 3:50 pm |

pat carr

Agreed. not our lives or our money. Amazingly enough despite a budget "crisis" we have money for this garbage?

I am from USA and I DON'T want us getting involved in anymore wars unless its on our boarder. I don't want to brag about the USA cause I think we are out of line. Way off track. We been at war for the last 20+ years with one country or another. And for what ? As soon as we pull out they are right back where they were before we came knocking. Leave them to their own fight. When the other nuke countries have had enough of us, you think anyone will help us when the big bombs start dropping on our land? They will run and hide, all of them. We will be left to defend for ourselves. Just stop it.

Can we please learn from the disaster in Libya just months ago? If we're attacking Syria and we don't pin down Assad the violence will be exponentially worse. Start tracking him now, every second of every day. UNAF would do well to start thinking about band-aid leaders as well to fill the power vacuum that will be left...

we should not interject ourselves into a 2,000 year old religious war. These people have killed each other for thousands of years and they will keep killing each other as long as they believe in their mythical fantasies about their gods. There is NO solution outside of simply killing each other off. A non dictatorial solution is NOT an option for these people.

Steve you need to quit going to church or listening to the radio, you have been sold a load of crap disguised as historical fact.

Israel is not about Religion, Syria is not about religion, It is about land and power nothing more or less. At times it is convenient to get people to fight for you if you claim it is about religion, because Religious people aren't very smart.

There are times I feel like we are the bully. We step into countries who can not match our might but when somebody our size does the same thing we just flap our jaw. Does anyone remember Georgia or Tinemin Square. I beleive if a country is headed into a civil war then let it happen the smoke will clear eventually with a winner. Stay out; have nt we learned anything with Vietnam, Iraq, Afghanstan. And please this limp act of send in Drones is even worse. No one knows who you are hitting, its all hear say and most likely on someones agenda one we dont understand or know.

He said he doubted the Russians would intervene is because it is no way in their best interest. They are in a state of rebuilding and would not for any reason whatsoever want to get involved with a lost cause. They will not endorse any type of military intervention, but they will strongly oppose it. Right now if you really followed world politics Z.2k you would understand this Sunday is the Russian Presidential election , and there only real interest in Syria is the fact Putin does not want to see the interference of The UN in any situation involving just protest and unrest, seeing as this is currently going on in his country as well.
Instead of repeating over used catch phrases that you Obama haters seem to think are clever or witty , you might instead take the type to really pay attention to what is really going on in the world.

There is no way Obama will get the US unilaterally into a war in Syria. The last thing Obama wants is to increase spending on a war we don't have to be engaged in. If it is so important to topple Assad, let Saudi Arabia do it.

jo jo why don't you go first.. haven'te we wasted enough of our poeple for no gain , not enen an inch in anything since 9/11 yet you're under the illusion that we have money and soldiers to burn...get you a good war movie and sit on it...

As the world ponders what to do, many more people are dying. This Assad (pronounced ass-wad) has to go. It amazes me with all the tech we possess there isn't any real solution, but to tragically read, about more senseless deaths...

This is a leader killing his own people who are getting little or no support from the Arab League or the Eurozone which is in Syria's part of the world. What possible interests do we have in Syria? Let the EU and AL take this on.

we have more murders in the US yearly than they are suffernig in Syria ...
Can you guarentee that all the Muslim's who have converted to Christianity under the two Assad's governmetn can still live in peace in that country..Do you know that 600 thousand Iraqi Christians live in Syrai since the invasion on march 20, 2003??? do you know that the Syrians governmetn is a secular government... and the one to replace ti will be absolutely Islamic and absolutely extremist ... are you prepared to accept all the set backs that are absolutely to come under a religious regime...that we may have to seen our little grandkids over there again??? this time to correct the mistake we made for invading that country....

You doubt ? YOU ? What are your qualifications to have any opinion as to what the Russians, or other Syrian support nations, would do ? Go ahead, give Obi-wan-obama a call and tell him to deploy the Marines, because YOU doubt the Russians would intervene.. HAHAHAHA.

I like this answer, well said to an ignorant buffoon. Plus, would we like anyone else to intervene if texas decides to get out of being a part of USA and we try to stop them?

February 28, 2012 at 2:39 pm |

BigRed

The Russians have been itching to take us on since WWII. Looks like now they'll get their chance. If we fall for this insanity we won't have much of a country left afterwards. Enough already.

February 28, 2012 at 2:45 pm |

JoJo Backer

Z_2K – what are your qualifications to refute JoJo's statement? None. Assad is a punk and a coward. He kills innocents when they dont think or act the way he wants them to. Punks and Cowards (see Hussein, bin Laden, etc) run and hide, just like JoJo says. And I agree, the Russians wont do squat, they are still trying to figure out why they are losing 50% of thier GDP to corruption turnover.

February 28, 2012 at 2:50 pm |

ftavour

Report says that Pentagon is looking into calling for tens of thousands of troops to protect Syrian chemical weapons sites. I really don't understand why. Can't we just bomb all these sites and get rid of them for good?

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